was known not to be that Chief he was ordered to be burnt, which was an excessively cruel punishment. Gómez Hernández left this valley with the Spaniards, but took no horses with him because of the rugged character of the country, and proceeded until he reached the forest of _Cima_, which is very wild, with a dense growth of trees, and where it rains during the greater part of the year. It contains many noxious animals and night birds. The monkeys are numerous, and the natives go naked and are very savage. The Indians have their houses very strongly built in trees, and they make war upon each other owing to the scarcity of food. The Spaniards with their cross-bows came to one of those _barbacoas_, or fortified places, and one of them named Alonso Pérez caught an Indian girl. She was so overcome with grief and abhorrence at finding herself a prisoner to a Christian, that she threw herself down a precipice and was dashed to pieces, her soul going to hell. Gómez Hernández advanced for some days through these forests, than which there are none more rugged and impassable in the world, until he came to a river which flowed into the Ocean Sea and which, according to the most general opinion, must be the river of Darien.[21] They found some edible palms, and on them that singular fruit called _pixibays_, which they liked. There also were many turkeys and pheasants,[22] and many tapirs which are the size of a mule, and would seem to be like those they call zebras. Proceeding with his discoveries, Gómez Hernández advanced until he arrived at the crest of a rise whence they saw that the country everywhere appeared level and much less mountainous. No open plain was visible, but undulating country with many and much larger _barbacoas_ or fortified houses than had been found in Cima. When the natives perceived the Christians they sounded many drums and flutes, making a great noise and preparing to come out and give battle.